WOTD Ficlet:  Battle Ready
by Guardian Kysra
Summary: They are not ants under heel nor worker bees droning to the tune of a group mind. Neither are they pups dependent on the pack nor ducklings in need of a mother-leader to follow behind...Takes place at end of anime.


Author's Note: First draft. Unedited ^_^ Takes place just before Maka reaches Arachne's castle in the anime.

Battle Ready

A Word of the Day Ficlet

By Kysra

Running. The trees are nothing but wisps of green, the brown earth no more than a blur. She feels the pull of her trenchcoat flaring out behind, the buffet of the wind as she runs against it. Her steps are sure and unfaltering, her eyes focused ahead, steady and piercing.

Yet . . .

The hand gripped about Soul's shaft tightened slightly, her gloved palm trembling against the warm metal.

_Maka? . . ._

She sucks in her lips slightly, feeling the cutting edge of her teeth and making the line of her frown cleaner, deeper, her brows heavy with determination.

It bothers her, the not-knowing-doubtful-but-righteous coil in her gut. She has trusted Kidd's judgement in the past; however, now . . .

"We're not Myrmidons." It is nearly a muttered curse, the syllables spat between clenched teeth like bitter tobacco juice (and just as deadly).

_Maka, you have to pull yourself together . . ._

She doesn't answer Soul's order, doesn't really hear it, ignores the thrumming purpose in her blood.

This isn't about Shinigami-sama and his plans, whatever or whenever they may be. It isn't about the demon tools or the gain of power. Shinigami-sama will still be bound to Shibusen regardless of this battle's outcome, and there will still be witches to kill and demons to hunt.

_**This**_ . . . in the here and now, with her running footfalls bringing her closer to the very source of the insanity pushing like fingernails into her skull, is about justice. For Professor Stein who never deserved to have his free will taken; for Marie-Sensei, who's kindness was paid with the worst kind of double-pronged evil; for Crona, who was owed a _life_ where _she_ was boss of her thoughts, emotion, and actions; and the world of innocents around her who could not know of the danger they were now facing . . . who should NEVER know of it.

She grit her teeth, preparing to jump across a small ravine, her thoughts swirling in a frenzy of passionate conviction.

No . . . _no_. Kidd was **wrong**. They are not ants under heel nor worker bees droning to the tune of a group mind. Neither are they pups dependent on the pack nor ducklings in need of a mother-leader to follow behind.

They are a fine-tuned and well-oiled _machine_ made of independent parts, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, talents and skills, ideas and personalities. They are a united _team_, just as effective together as they are apart. They are _loyal_ - not only to Shinigami-sama who has taught, nurtured, and protected them - but to **each other**, to their school, to the ideal of protecting humans from those that preyed on human souls.

_Maka! Pay attention!_ Soul's voice is like a whip, and she immediately ducks under the branch aiming for her head.

"Thanks Soul."

_Are you back with me, Maka-baka?_

She smiles despite the ache in her legs and the fear in her heart as she crests a cliff-side crag and finds herself staring at the impossibility of Shibusen suspended in the sky and a huge glowing black sphere writhing closed within the basin below. Her voice is grim and as gray as the waves flowing from Soul. "I'm with you, Soul."

_Ready to kick Ashura's ass?_ She can see his fangs glinting white and foreboding at the corner of her vision. Her mouth falls into it's usual serious line as her hand again tightens on her friend and Weapon. The fear drains out, replaced by the faith that she and her friends will be victorious against this maniac.

Shinigami-sama would be expecting nothing less, and Maka would accept nothing less than the highest marks. She is ready.

"I'm ready." She leaps into the sphere just as it is sealed. She doesn't look back.

_Word: Myrmidon_


End file.
